eHosting DataFort (eHDF), the region’s leading Cloud Infrastructure, Managed Hosting and Security Services Provider, today announced that it has acquired LiveRoute, a leading Cloud Solutions Provider in the Middle East. This acquisition is aligned with eHDF’s strategy to accelerate the growth of its Cloud business and strengthen its portfolio by including LiveRoute’s Public Cloud offerings based on Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Microsoft SharePoint. The strategic acquisition will also allow eHDF to provide managed services to customers having distributed workloads which could be hosted either On-premise, Public Cloud hosted internationally or on a locally hosted Data Centre within the UAE.

LiveRoute, established in 2008, has grown significantly over the last decade with an impressive list of customers from different industry verticals. As a Microsoft Gold partner, LiveRoute provides customers consultancy, design, Cloud deployment, migration and support services to transition them smoothly to the Cloud. Apart from providing Office 365 and SharePoint, the company also expanded its services to include Microsoft Azure.

“By acquiring LiveRoute, eHDF will gain access to key end-users who are making progress in their Cloud journeys and focusing on Microsoft application workloads. LiveRoute, on the other hand, will gain access to key infrastructure services offered by eHDF, such as Hosting, Managed Security Services, Disaster Recovery, amongst others,” said Yasser Zeineldin, CEO of eHosting DataFort and General Manager of LiveRoute.

“This well-timed and strategic acquisition of LiveRoute, complements both our business models with respect to Public Cloud and Microsoft application workloads. eHDF’s investment in compute infrastructure and footprint of top-tier Data Center facilities in the country will enable LiveRoute’s client base the option of using Managed Hosting, Private and Hybrid Cloud services. With this acquisition, eHDF will continue to expand its Public Cloud portfolio and will be better positioned to help regional enterprises invest in digital platforms and new business models,” Mr. Zeineldin added.

According to Gartner, spending on Public Cloud services in the Middle East and North Africa region is expected to reach $2 billion by 2020. Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will exhibit the highest growth rate. The growth in PaaS and SaaS are indicators that migration of application and workloads from on-premises data centers to the Cloud, as well as development of Cloud ready and Cloud native applications, are fueling growth in this space. Software vendors will continue to shift investments from on-premises license-based software to Cloud-based offerings.

LiveRoute will continue to operate as an independent legal entity. This acquisition will open new doors for both LiveRoute and eHDF, wherein they will be able to cross-sell Cloud services to their customers. For eHDF, the acquisition is the latest step in the company’s efforts to expand beyond its core Cloud Infrastructure Services.